The GOES-13 satellite saw Hurricane Irene entering the Bahamas on Aug. 24, 2011 at 1302 UTC (9:02 a.m. EDT). Irene became a major hurricane shortly before this image and now has a clear, visible eye. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project.The Federal Emergency Management Agency yesterday affirmed that the powerful Hurricane Irene, currently ravaging the Caribbean with 100 miles per hour winds, is moving towards the U.S. east coast. It could hit as early as this weekend, anywhere from Florida to New England. FEMA is urging residents to use the days ahead to prepare for the hurricane's landfall.
This should include the shutdown of the following 16 atomic reactors, located immediately on the Atlantic Coast, as mapped on a Beyond Nuclear pamphlet. This safety precaution should be taken at the following atomic reactors (from south to north): Turkey Point Units 3 and 4 near Miami, FL; St. Lucie Units 1 and 2 on Florida's central Atlantic coast; Brunswick Units 1 and 2 in North Carolina; Calvert Cliffs Units 1 and 2 on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland; Salem Units 1 and 2, as well as Hope Creek, located just off the Delaware Bay, just 15 miles from the capital city of Delaware, in New Jersey; Oyster Creek, New Jersey; Millstone Units 2 and 3 on Long Island Sound in Connecticut (and the permanently shutdown Millstone Unit 1's high-level radioactive waste storage pool); Pilgrim in Massachusetts; and Seabrook in New Hampshire. Of course, numerous additional reactors, just inland, are not far removed from hurricane risks. FEMA has warned that the electrical grid could be damaged by high winds -- which could throw nuclear power plants onto emergency backup generators, which have a high failure rate.